Device for fastening curtains to vehicle-tops



No. 624,746. Patented May 9,1899. N. J. BUTTGER. I

DEVICE FDR FASTENING CURTAINS T0 VEHIGLE..TOPS.

(Application led Apr- 4, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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UNrrnD STATES PAT-ENT OFFICE..

NELS JENSEN BOTTGER, 0F CLYDE, KANSAS.

DEVICE FOR FASTENING CURTAINS TO VEHICLE-TOPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 624,746, dated-May 9, 1899.

Application filed April 4, 1898. Serial No. 676,407. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Nuns JENSEN BOTTGER, of Clyde, in the county of Cloud and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Device for Fastening Curtains to Vehicle- Tops, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a clasp and buckle especially adapted for fastening curtains to vehicle-tops and to construct the device in a simple, durable, and economic manner and so that it may be conveniently applied without weakening the vehicle curtain or top.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fastening device wherein when the parts are locked together they will not accidentally become disconnected and to so connect the parts of the device that they may be easily locked or unlocked.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the improved fastening device, a portion of the top of a vehicle and a portion of the curtain being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken practically on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, the section being also taken through a portion of the top and a portion of the curtain. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blank Vfrom which the latch-section is made. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a back plate for the latch-section of the device, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the under or auxiliary springtongue of the latch-section is made.

The device may be said to consist of two parts-a latch-section A and a keeper-section B. The blanks from which a latch-section is formed are illustrated in Figs. 8 and 5, a blank for the main portion of the latch being illustrated in Fig. 3, in which a sheet of spring'.

at the top and at the bottom of each side with a spur 11, the said spurs being adapted to be' carried through the material to which the latch-section is to be secured and bent on the material to secure the bodyin place. A tongue 12 is projected from the upper central inner portion of the body in direction of the opposing lower portion, and between the lugs 1l, at the outside bottom portion of the body, a lip 13 is formed.

In connection with the blank shown in Fig. 3, as stated, the blank illustrated in Fig. 5 is employed, and this latter blank is likewise made of a spring material in any approved manner, and consists of a head 14, adapted to the contour of the upper portion of the body 10, and a tongue 15, adapted to register with the tongue 12 of the body. The head portion 14 of the tongue 15 is secured to the body 10 of the latch by means of a rivet 14a or its equivalent, as shown in Fig. 2, the head df the auxiliary tongue being attached to the under or inner face of the body.

The main tongue l2, as illustrated in Fig. 2, is bent upward and outward from the body, as shown at ct, and is thence carried straight or parallel with a transverse line through the body, as shown at a', the lower end of the tongue 12 being then bent .upward and outward, forming an outwardly-inclined portion a2. (Shown inFig. 2.) The auxiliaryo'r inner tongue 15 is carried straight from the body for a predetermined distance, the straight portion of the auxiliary or inner tongue being designated as b, and the auxiliary or inner tongue is then bent out of the plane of the straight portion b and is carried beyond the point where the straight portion a" of the main. tongue connects with the inclined portion a2, as shownat b', Fig. 2, and after the auxiliary or inner tongue l5 has passed the point of juncture in the main tongue above mentioned the auxiliary or inner tongue at its lower extremity is curved downward and inward, as is likewise shown in Fig. 2.

When the latch-section is attached to curytain C, for example, and the spurs 11 have been passed through the curtain, the back plate 16 is preferably placed between "the Vspurs in engagement with the linner face of the curtain C, and the spurs 11 are bent down upon said plate, as shown in Fig. 2. By thus IOO connecting the latch-section to the curtain the curtain will not be weakened and likelihood of the section being torn from the curtain is greatly reduced. The keeper B is adapted for attachment to the inner face of the pendent portion D of the Vehicle-top.

Usually the keeper-section B consists of a metal plate comprising a body 17 and diverging wings 18 at the top of thebody, the wings and body being secured to the pendent portion of the vehicle-top by rivets 18n or like devices. Near thelower end of the body 17 of the keeper an opening 19 is formed, producing at the bottom of the keeper a bridge 20, which is struck up from the outside in a manner to cause the said bridge to be beyond the vertical plane of the rear face of the keeper, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The lip 13 is bent outward at an angle to the body of the latch in order that apurchase may be obtained upon the latch by the thumb or thumb and finger when the device is to be operated.

In operation when the curtain is to be attached to the canopy or top of a vehicle the latch is carried upward until the bridge 2O of the keeper can be received between the tips of the two tongues 12 and 15, whereupon the curtain is drawn downward until the bridge 20 of the keeper shall have occupied a space as near as possible to the point of connection between the two tongues. It is evident that owing to the peculiar formation of the main or outer tongue 12 the weight of the curtainl will be sustained by the body ot' the latch where the main tongue is deflected therefrom and that the curtain cannot sag The device is exceedingly simple. It is durable and economic, and, furthermore, a latch may be brought in locking engagement with a keeper or carried out of locking engagement therewith in a very convenient and speedy manner.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl 1. In a device for fastening curtains to vehicle-tops, the combination, with a keeper adapted for attachment to the canopy or top of the vehicle, the said keeper being provided with an opening the bottom portion whereof is arched, forming a bridge-bar, of a latchsection comprising a skeleton body having spurs arranged to pass through a curtain, a main central tongue and an auxiliary tongue back of the cent-ral tongue, the main tongue being curved outward from the body, thence carried downward in a substantially straight line, the lower end being outwardly and upwardly bent, while the auxiliary tongue extends straight from the body parallel a predetermined distance with the straight portion of the main tongue, the auxiliary tongue being then forwardly curved to approach the juncture of the straight portion and top of the main tongue, the lower portion of the auxiliary tongue being curved inwardly or in an opposite direction to the top of the main tongue, the two tongues being adapted to receive between them the bridge-bar of the keeper, a lip located at the lower edge of the latch, being at an angle to the body thereof, and a back plate adapted to be engaged by the lugs of the body of the latch, as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a device for fastening carriage-curtains, a latch consisting of a skeleton frame formed with spurs projecting therefrom for securing it in position, a tongue projecting from the upper central portion and a lip projecting from its lower portion, the tongue having its upper portion bent outwardly as at a and formed with the straight portion a and the outwardly-bent end d2, the auxiliary tongue secured to the frame in the rear of the first-named tongue and formed with the upper straight portion b and the outwardly bent or bulged lower portion b, and the back plate upon which the spurs of the body are bent after having been passed through the curtain, substantially as described.

NELS JENSEN BOT'IGER.

lVitnesses:

CLERIN ZUMwALT, ARTHUR L. DoRAN. 

